Chapter Text
Ladybug and Chat Noir have a number of wins under their belts against the Akumatized. They've seen all sorts of strange powers manifested from their emotions and all sorts of people manipulated into trying to steal their Miraculous. This was supposed to be another day, another disturbance, another smooth victory, another purified Akuma, another fist bump, and that it would be it. Ladybug would return home, where she'd return to being Marinette.
Not return home as Chat Noir.
Not go home as...whoever Chat Noir was behind his mask.
She looked at her larger, leather-clad hands. Ladybug flexed them and curled them into fists, willing herself to calm down. She pinched her cheeks to make sure she wasn't dreaming. The pain caused by her clawed fingers only reassured her the worst.
"Be careful with the meow-chandise, my lady," Chat Noir feigned a whine and whipped out his new weapon, "You're only renting it!" When he failed to get even a sound from her, he pouted.
"It's okay. I'm sure once we defeat the Akuma, we'll be back in our original bodies."
She was jolted out of her trance when she felt a feminine hand grip her shoulder comfortingly. Ladybug's gaze moved from the red-clad, slender wrist to the face she's known her whole life.
Her own.
"Yeah," She exhaled, her voice strained, "You're right. We just have to beat the Akuma and everything will go back to normal." The tension seemed to alleviate as the words left her mouth.
"Am I ever wrong? Besides, we have Lady Luck on our side." Chat Noir purred as he spun his newly acquired yo-yo around. He flashed his trademark Cheshire grin. "Moi." It seemed so out of character on her face, but Ladybug saw all of his familiar spirit in it and couldn't help but relieved by his calmness.
THONK!
"Ow!" Chat Noir rubbed the side of his head, glaring at the red, round object that hit it.
"Anyway," Ladybug whipped out the metal staff and, with a snap, elongated it to its combat length. She stared at her new reflection in the weapon and saw the messy blonde locks, the golden complexion, and the black leather mask over her jade eyes.
She really was in Chat Noir's body.
The reality of it snapped into place inside her mind as her grip tightened.
Well then, She thought as she glanced back up at their opponent with a renewed determination, If I'm going to be Chat Noir, I'll be a darn good one.
"Let's focus on defeating the Akuma and get back to our bodies before our transformation runs out."
But there was this gut feeling that was pooling inside of her like black tar. That foreboding feeling gripped her heart, that inkling in the back of her mind that this wasn't going to be easily solved with a miracle. She glanced at Chat, who, as usual, looked ready to take the Akuma head on.
He was focused on the now, not the later.
All she saw on his face was determination.
Her determination.
She thrummed her fingers across the metal and spread her legs into a fighting stance. Even though she was in Chat Noir's body, she was still the confident Ladybug. "Alright, Chat," He looked at her as she continued, "You need to be ready to catch the Akuma and purify it."
As if on cue, the said Akuma appeared before them.
"A-and, how do I purify it, bugaboo..." If Chat Noir was actually as worried as she was, this was the only time it seemed to peak through his bravado. Ladybug smiled.
"You'll just know."
"That's not very helpful advice- Wait!" Chat reached out towards his body, which had already leaped towards the Akuma while twirling the staff expertly.
"Aim for the mirror, Chat!" Ladybug called out over her shoulder before she turned back to face the Akuma. She let out a battle cry, swinging the metal rod at the mirror. The Akuma, the Échanger, disappeared in a shimmer of light and appeared farther away.
Chat gulped and swung the yo-yo, only to have it bounce off something nearby and wrap around him completely. "You make this look so easy..." He grunted as he began to hurriedly untangle himself. He looked at Ladybug, who seemed to be swinging the staff as if she'd been using it for years, and then back down at his yo-yo. He shook his head furiously and worked harder at unraveling the string.
Ladybug jumped once more and landed on a roof top, a couple feet away from the Échanger. He was perched on a chimney, watching her warily and holding the ornate, circle mirror in front of his stomach. It was radiating with a familiar darkness that reeked of Hawkmoth. She slowly walked towards him with the end of her rod pointed at him, appearing like a predator warily watching its prey's movement.
"Ladybug."
She halted in her footsteps, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Her newly acquired cat ears twitched. But her golden eyes were ever watchful.
"Have you ever wanted to be someone else?" He continued as he stroked the mirror. Her eyes moved to look at the image reflected in it; that was probably who the Akuma was before he switched bodies. The expression was sad, withdrawn, and weary for someone so young. Moving her focus back to the man holding it, she began walking to him once more.
"I wanted him to be me," The Échanger growled, "Because he didn't understand. He didn't understand what it was like to be in my shoes! He didn't know what it was like to be bullied. To not have friends." His voice gradually raised in volume and finally cracked at his confession,
"To not have a family!"
Ladybug flinched at the anguish that was seeping through his voice.
"I didn't care about being him. I didn't really want anything he had. Because none of it would ever really be mine. His parents would never be mine, because they would think I was him. I just..." He gripped the mirror tightly, his face morphing back from sadness to anger, "I just wanted him to know what I was going through. To understand." He looked back up from his mirror to meet her cautious gaze.
She blinked, and all of sudden, the Échanger was standing right in front of her and holding the mirror up to her face. Her golden eyes could not escape from staring at the reflection; her reflection or a reflection of who Chat Noir truly is, she wasn't sure.
But all she saw was an expression of sadness and loneliness that did not seem to fit the normally cheerful feline's face.
"How can partners get along if they don't truly understand each other?"
Ladybug's gaze moved from the mirror back to the Échanger's face, whose smirk was growing with each passing second.
"Do you truly understand Chat Noir, Ladybug?"
"Do you understand, my lady?"
The Échanger cursed as the unbreakable yo-yo string wrapped around his body. "Gah! You..." She whipped around to see Chat on nearby roof, keeping a steady grip on the Akuma. The heels of his feet were being dragged across the rooftop paneling. When there eyes met, he winked.
"My love for you that is. Catch!"
Ladybug shook herself out of the train of thoughts that Échanger started in her head and caught the item in her hand. It was a mirror. "What is this?"
"Ugh. It's the Lucky Charm object I got." Chat Noir grunted as he pulled. "Have any ideas?"
After gathering his wits, the Échanger phased out of the yo-yo and put a safe distance between himself and the two heroes. "Nice try, Ladybug...or should I say, Chat Noir." The said hero made a sound of frustration as he retracted the yo-yo back to his hand.
His partner, on the other hand, was looking around for an idea. "A mirror? A mirror..." Her eyes squinted as she looked up and lifted a hand to block it. "...Aha." She jumped and landed right besides her body, whose focus remained on the Akuma that seemed ready to teleport away. "Chat. Find a good spot to reflect the sunlight into his eyes. The second you're going to do it, give me the signal."
"Got it."
And with that, Chat Noir jumped away and Ladybug ran straight towards the Échanger.
The Akuma smirked. "What's this? Did you finally realize that you two can't work together-"
"Ladybug, now!"
"What?" The Échanger looked at the source of the cry and was immediately blinded, the light directly reflected onto his face. Ladybug extended the staff and hit the mirror up out of his grasp. "No!"
She grinned and adjusted her grip so that she was holding the rod like a baseball bat. "HAH!" Swinging it with full strength, she shattered the mirror into pieces. "Chat! It's your turn!"
"I got it! I think?" He gripped the yo-yo and gulped, "Uh, like this?" He slid his finger across it, and almost immediately, a bright light burst forth. "Time to purify!" After swinging it enough to gain momentum, he shot the yo-yo out and easily caught the tainted butterfly inside it. After the click, he ran his finger over the yo-yo once more and released the purified Akuma. "See you, pretty papillon." He murmured, watching it fly away towards the sun.
"Good job, Chat. You're a natural." Ladybug smiled as she held up her fist. Chat Noir grinned and held up his own to meet hers. "Now, for the grand finale." He nodded and clutched the mirror with his free hand.
"Miraculous..." He tossed the polka dotted mirror into the sky and cried, "LADYBUG!"
On cue, the swarm of shimmering ladybugs came bursting forth, wrapping themselves around the Lucky Charm before spreading out like waves over the city. Ladybug watched as the light began to rain upon the streets. People were running to any form of reflection, whether it was the window or a car mirror, and yelling in happiness at the sight of their original faces. One wave was going straight towards the duo, whose fist bump was still locked in place as though for reassurance. As the light swirled around them like a tornado, the heroes looked and smiled comfortingly at each other.
Ladybug slowly closed her eyes.
When I open them, she silently prayed as she bit her lip, I'll be looking at Chat Noir from my own body.
She felt the final gust of wind whip around her and heard the fluttering of their tiny wings echo in the distance until a peaceful silence settled in its place. The only thing she heard was her muscles moving as she gulped. Unable to hold it together any longer, she opened her eyes and
found herself staring at her worried face.
Beep.
Chat Noir flinched and looked at the paw that was blinking dangerously on the Miraculous ring, which was on her finger.
Beep.
Ladybug stared at the last black polka dot that was threatening to disappear from the Miraculous earring, which was on his ear.
Beep.
"Uh oh."
At that moment, Ladybug realized two things:
(1) that it would take a miracle to bring back them back to their former bodies and
(2) that they were going to find out each other's identities, whether they liked it or not.
But she didn't realize the third.
(3) That this was the stroke of luck that would bring them even closer together.